[logline]

Originally Posted by Vegas_Cabbie

I don't know if I sympathize per say... I mean, no one is forcing anybody to chose their occupation, ya know?

I guess what I'm saying is that it doesn't pay to be with Uber compared to being a cabbie. I'm not saying it because I'm a cabbie... I'm just being real about it. There is just an overwhelming amount of hidden expense that people don't see... Uber claims it's average driver makes $90,000 ... I can't even begin to tell you how much of a joke that is.

To give you an idea, I'll make roughly $40k a year, take home after everything. Not too bad for Vegas with no income tax and low property tax.

Yearly Uber salary, full time:

Even if Uber driver made 90k, you will have to deduct self-employment tax (which covers medicare and SS payments -- roughly 15%)
90,000 x .85 = 76,500

Gas: (I put on about 150 miles a day in the cab... if you are working five days a week, that is 260 days a year... 150 miles a day x 260 days a year = 39,000 miles. If you average 25mpg in the city, you will use roughly 1,560 gallons of fuel... 1,560 x $3 a gallon is $4,680)
76,500 - 4,680 = 71,820

Set of tires each year: $500
71,820 - 500 = 71,320

We'll say you get an oil change every 3,900 miles to make the numbers easy...
10 oil changes at $20 each: $200
71,320 - 200 = 71,120

Cell phone Uber makes you pay $40/month for: $480
71,120 - 480 = 70,640

Health Insurance for ONE PERSON per month: $328
Per year: 3,936
$328: Average Monthly Health Insurance Cost Under the Affordable Care Act | NBC4 Washington
70,640 - 3,936 = 66,704

Unless you plan on working until you are dead, you'll want to keep putting money into an IRA... the average American is putting roughly 10% into their 401k... which would mean $9000 here... let's be conservative and say it's 6,704
66,704 - 6,704 = 60,000

You will not be allowed to drive an older, high mile car for Uber... Figure a new car every three years (earlier, we estimated the yearly mileage to be 39,000 miles... unless you have a second car specifically for Uber, you will be putting miles onto it during your off days... let's be conservative and say 11,000 in an entire year go on the vehicle in addition to the 39k working... this would be 150,000 in three years... a new car would be needed.)
The car has to be a full-size four-door model... let's say 25k for a new car (even Toyota Camrys are over 23k now!)... divide this by 3 for the three years and you got 8,333
60,000 - 8,333 = 51,667

We are all the way down to $51,667 from $90,000 and this is assuming not a single dollar is spent on unexpected car repair or certain-to-repair things like brakes.

Driving Uber full time vs Driving a cab full time ... it's not even a difficult decision. I'll take my cab any day.

Here's how I know you don't understand economics.

NEWSFLASH: You already pay for ALL of those expenses above! That's why you make 38% commission instead of 80%. Do you seriously think you are escaping those fees? Please tell me you thought this through. Somebody is paying them (and not out of the goodness of their heart). Uber completely eliminates the middle men who are currently taking money out of your pocket and you seem fine with those middle men having their hand in YOUR pocket! Amazing.

By your own calculations, that $51,667 with Uber is more than a 25% raise for you over your current taxi salary! Why wouldn't you take it??!

[ddrhazy]

As far as I can tell, the people who lose out are the cab companies that paid for those expensive taxi medallions. Everything else such as vehicle maintenance and self health insurance cost will probably be recouped because of the increased commission rate.

[EA]

I don't know what the medallions cost here. With the amount of collusion, I doubt it's anywhere near 400k.

[ddrhazy]

There are no new medallions being created by the taxi authority, correct?

[EA]

As far as I know, you are correct.

[Vegas_Cabbie]

Originally Posted by logline

Here's how I know you don't understand economics.

NEWSFLASH: You already pay for ALL of those expenses above! That's why you make 38% commission instead of 80%. Do you seriously think you are escaping those fees? Please tell me you thought this through. Somebody is paying them (and not out of the goodness of their heart). Uber completely eliminates the middle men who are currently taking money out of your pocket and you seem fine with those middle men having their hand in YOUR pocket! Amazing.

By your own calculations, that $51,667 with Uber is more than a 25% raise for you over your current taxi salary! Why wouldn't you take it??!

Dude honestly, enough with the economics bs Give it up... I stopped listing things because I thought you would have gotten it by now.

[Vegas_Cabbie]

Originally Posted by EA

As far as I know, you are correct.

Yep, no new medallions.

EA, same thing happened to me on a radio call... Jumped out of line and customer was gone. I now refuse to do dispatch calls.

To all the peeps wondering why cabs dont come, this is a huge issue... They get BS requests or the people bail and don't notify us... So drivers get screwed and stop coming out of the hot zones.

[Vegas_Cabbie]

Originally Posted by logline

Here's how I know you don't understand economics.

NEWSFLASH: You already pay for ALL of those expenses above! That's why you make 38% commission instead of 80%. Do you seriously think you are escaping those fees? Please tell me you thought this through. Somebody is paying them (and not out of the goodness of their heart). Uber completely eliminates the middle men who are currently taking money out of your pocket and you seem fine with those middle men having their hand in YOUR pocket! Amazing.

By your own calculations, that $51,667 with Uber is more than a 25% raise for you over your current taxi salary! Why wouldn't you take it??!

Not to mention that figure is based off of Uber's totally BS claim that the average driver makes 90k... I can 100% guarantee you that would not happen here - especially since they won't be on the strip or downtown.

I dont even know why I'm explaining this and wasting my time ...

[ddrhazy]

Originally Posted by Vegas_Cabbie

Dude honestly, enough with the economics bs Give it up... I stopped listing things because I thought you would have gotten it by now.

I don't understand how you can disregard his argument. It's the crux of why Uber is popular. Ignoring it is basically saying you don't want to debate, you just want to state your opinion and are not open to changing your own.

[ddrhazy]

Originally Posted by Vegas_Cabbie

Not to mention that figure is based off of Uber's totally BS claim that the average driver makes 90k... I can 100% guarantee you that would not happen here - especially since they won't be on the strip or downtown.

I dont even know why I'm explaining this and wasting my time ...

What if Uber was the gateway to complete decentralization and break up of the monopoly the 15 cab companies in Vegas have in the valley? What if in the future, anyone could operate a cab if they pay a reasonable yearly fee similar to a business license? Are these things not desirable to you as a cabbie?